The invention relates to a hinge for cabinet doors which has two parts joined together by a linkage mechanism, the one part being in the form of a cup which can be set in a mortise in the cabinet door and contains a resilient snap catch, while the other part has adjacent its extremity that extends into the cup a projection which is engaged by the snap catch in the course of the closing movement and behind which it is arrested in the closed position.
Such cabinet hinges with self-contained catch mechanism for the secure retention of the cabinet door in the closed position are known in many different forms. The resilient snap catch disposed in the cup is, in a known hinge (German Petty Pat. No. 1,845,743) for example, formed of a metal ball which is biased by a spring to a position in which it projects partially into the interior of the cup and can be forced back against the spring bias into the wall of the cup. This ball catch is forced back in the closing movement by a counter-surface on the other part of the hinge, and when the closed position is reached it snaps behind the counter-surface into a recess. In another known over-center hinge (German Federal Pat. No. 21 22 857), the resilient element is formed by an elongated tongue mounted pivotingly in the cup and biased by a spring to a position in which it projects slantingly into the cup; in the closing movement it is first forced back by the counter-surface of the other part of the hinge to a dead center position from which a partial relaxation of the spring drives the counter-surface and hence the second hinge part to the closed position. These and other similar known hinges function satisfactorily and are widely used in modern furniture construction. It has been found to be a certain disadvantage, however, that the disposition of the snap catch and especially of the spring biasing it necessitates an increase in the size of the cup, in the form, for example, of a housing projection which is situated above the inner door surface and contains the spring. Furthermore, in the assembly of the hinges, the snap catches have to be installed against the bias of the spring urging them to the catching position, or else the spring has to be installed in the cup afterward, under bias. This requires much work and the hinges are therefore more expensive to manufacture.